In the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams greatly admired the Persian Empire, while Iranians regarded America as an ideal their own government might emulate. Beginning there, how did they become the enemies they are today? In this rich, fascinating history, John Ghazvinian traces the complex story of relations between these two powers. Drawing on years of research conducted in both countries - including access to Iranian government archives rarely available to Western scholars - he leads us through the four seasons of US-Iranian relations: the spring of mutual fascination; the summer of early interactions; the autumn of close, strategic ties; and the long, dark winter of hate.
America and Iran lays bare when, where and how it all went wrong - and why it didn't have to be this way.